Due to the extreme weather conditions, caused by the climate change, the usual wheat harvest yield and quality in the Western countries were difficult to maintain in the past few years. The altered wheat quality was primarily characterized by a rising protein content. The application of high protein wheat flours in baking products leads to baking difficulties due to its elastic dough behavior. As these issues will further face the Western cereal cultivation, heat resistant cereals, like sorghum, are attracting increasing interest. A partial substitution of wheat with sorghum might offer one possible solution to address the current challenging situation. To introduce sorghum in the Western cereal and baking industry, the grain and its unique chemical and rheological properties need to be more widely promoted. Until now, several authors have conducted studies in order to emphasize the high potential of sorghum. The aim of the present review is to broaden the current knowledge of the chemical, rheological and baking properties of sorghum in comparison to wheat. The review further demonstrates promising approaches, which might be from interest in order to achieve higher wheat-sorghum bakery end product qualities.
Keywords: baking; rheology; sorghum; western bread; wheat sorghum blends.